Progress is continuing in the NICU.

Lucy is slowly but steadily getting better. The combination of surgery and an infection really hit her hard but she is coming around. The doctors are slowly weaning her off the morphine and she is not on any other sedatives now. Her oxygen levels are holding steady and the parameters are coming down. This means the pressure that they are giving her to keep her lungs open is decreasing as well as some other measures. She is tolerating handling much better - the nurses don't need to give her extra oxygen now when they are doing her care. Lucy has also started feeds again - just one mL every three hours and she is digesting that well. It has been just over a week since she has had any feeds so it will take a while to get back on full feeds again. Last night when we were in for our visit Lucy kicked both her legs up in the air. It was great to see Lucy acting a bit more like herself, even while on the morphine.

Ella is still doing great. The biggest step is that she is now off the ventilator - this is huge! She is now on an "Aladdin Cap." (Picture to come later.) It is similar to the device that adults with sleep apnea wear to bed at night. It gives her some pressure and regular oxygen. Ella is doing all the breathing on her own - the machine is just a reminder to keep going. She is doing very well on the cap and hopefully she will not need to go back on the ventilator. Yesterday I was able to help give her a bath. The nurse held onto Ella and I did the washing. It was the first time I had ever seen Ella without any lines or tubes or IVs. She loved the bath, thrashing about in the warm water. After her bath I was able to kangeroo with her again for a couple of hours. Amazing once again!